Dreaming Down Destruction
by Mell8
Summary: Ten years have passed since Voldemort's death. Ginny's in St. Mungo's for insanity, Draco's in hiding, biding his time until the Dark Lord returns, and an old Seer conspires to bring them together to save or destroy the world.


Dreaming Down Destruction  
By Mell8

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"Immortality you say. Hehehe. Let me see…" The old hermit wheezed as he shuffled over to a small bowl of water perched in the middle of a table right next to a crystal ball and a small fire pit.

"You had better have an answer, old fool, or I will kill you!"

"Let me scry, youngling. Your threats will not change the outcome of your future." The old man made a cup of tea, lit the fire, and pulled both the bowl of water and the crystal ball toward him. "Drink the tea while you wait. Do not muddle with the tea leaves!"

The old man bent over the bowl of water first and spent a long time staring into the depths. He nodded to himself and pushed the water away in favor of the crystal ball.

"Yours is a difficult future to predict. I see many challenges." The hermit laughed and coughed as he moved over to stare at the fire. He grabbed a pinch of herbs from yet another bowl and threw them into the flames. This time the old man stared without even blinking. Nearly an hour passed before he pulled away.

"You have nearly been defeated once already. I do believe that you will fail the second time as well."

The old man found a wand pointed at his forehead. "You will die for your insolence, mudblood!"

The hermit let out another laugh accompanied by a hacking cough. "I think not. You seek immortality and I seek the way for you to gain it. You would not kill me because I am your last hope for such magic." The old man reached out and took the cup from Voldemort's long fingers and stared into the tealeaves.

"Well? Hurry up and tell me how to become immortal!"

"Ahhh, it will be years before you will have a chance for such luxury." The old hermit put down the teacup and shuffled over to an old cabinet precariously hanging from the wall.

The wand was pointed at the old man's back yet again. "I need immortality _now_. I have no wish to wait for your whim. You will give me the secret to immortality or you will die!"

The old hermit turned and fixed the Dark Lord with his hard glare. "The pieces must be in place if you wish for immortality. Tom Riddle, you lost your first war against a baby; Harry Potter defeated you with ease. I have Seen your second battle as well. You will be horribly outnumbered and will lose. Harry Potter has the means to defeat you a second time." The hermit waved a dismissive hand at Voldemort's wand and smirked slightly at the evil wizards dark look. "But the third time…" The hermit laughed again and hobbled back to the table and Voldemort.

"The third time what? Tell me at once!"

"Take this," the old hermit handed Voldemort a Muggle button. "At the end of the second battle, Harry Potter will have you at his mercy. You will die a final death, as he has already discovered your Horcruxes and is endeavoring to destroy them as we speak."

Voldemort's grip tightened on his wand and his glare of hatred increased.

"Let him destroy every single one of your Horcruxes! When Harry Potter speaks the curse that will end you, wait until the last possible second, and then squeeze that button. He must believe that you are dead. Your believed demise is imperative! Now, this button is a portkey of sorts and will send you to me, ten years in the future. Trust me when I tell you that in ten years the Wizarding World will be more than ripe for your brand of mayhem.

"In ten years Harry Potter will be a fool, the Ministry will have become complacent, the Order of the Phoenix will have been disbanded and many of it's members will have died from old age, and all the ingredients will be in place for your rise to immortality."

Voldemort took the button and carefully placed it in his pocket. "And you are positive of this?"

"Oh yes, I am quite sure. Ah! One thing to remember is that all of your supporters will be ten years older. This means that your Death Eaters who are nearing fifty right now, will be sixty and will be rather poor minions. I suggest that you carefully hide your youngest Death Eaters and any future Death Eaters away where they cannot be prosecuted and contaminated by the Ministry and the Order so you will have able bodied followers in ten years."

The old man stood and shuffled back to the cabinet. He turned back to Voldemort and the dark wizard blinked. It seemed as if he were looking at the hermit through a dirty pane of glass and that the hermit was slowly moving farther away.

"Do not forget that everyone must believe that you are dead. Let Harry Potter win this battle and come to me." The hermit vanished and Voldemort found himself standing alone in a densely wooded forest. He smirked evilly and fingered the tiny button in his pocket. Oh yes, he would definitely be losing this second battle, but the third…?

He laughed and all the creatures fell silent as his evil voice permeated through the trees.

The old hermit turned and opened the large wooden door behind him. Two identical red headed boys glared up at him.

The hermit smiled. "Now you understand why I have asked this of you. You must realize that what I do is imperative for the future existence of mankind, but what you are charged with is far more important."

"So all we have to do is watch over our little sister-"

"-while you help Voldemort survive and come back to power!" The twins snarled and turned to leave.

"And if you don't do as I say your sister will die; she will die a painful death and you will know that it is your fault because you ignored me."

The twins turned back, glares still on their faces but there was a look in their identical eyes.

The hermit held out two rings that looked exactly alike. The twins slowly took the rings and the old man smiled. Everything was going as planned.

Maybe, just maybe, the world could be saved…

III

Harry Potter held his wand outstretched in one strong hand and smiled slightly as the curse fell from his lips. Voldemort lay on the ground, helpless and powerless as the spell shot out of Harry's wand straight at the Dark Lord. Harry watched as the spell hit and Voldemort disappeared.

Harry laughed happily and collapsed as his knees gave out and the adrenalin rush tapered off. "We did it! WE DID IT!" He laughed again. "The spell worked Hermione! You're brilliant!"

"I'm not sure he was supposed to disappear like that though Harry. All of my notes and calculations pointed towards his death, not his body disappearing." Hermione stood a few feet away, hovering protectively over Ron, who had a terrible gash down one arm that was bleeding profusely, and a shattered leg from when he had fallen hard after pushing Harry out of the way of a killing curse.

"Don't worry Hermione! You said it yourself that the spell might have some "unforeseen effects" but as long as Voldemort gets hit with the spell, he dies. So the unforeseen effect was his body vanishing, Oh well. He got hit with the spell so he's dead!"

A cheer went up from the battleground as the victors slowly realized that they really were the victors.

Far away and ten years in the future Voldemort appeared, bruised and broken, but very much alive. He dropped a tiny button as he slumped against the familiar scrying table.

"You have done well!" The old hermit cackled and looked up from his worktable. "Now the real preparations can begin."

III

Ginny Weasley sat up in her bed and found herself to be screaming; again. The Medi-Witch rushed over and gently began to sooth the girl as she waited for one of the Healers-in-training to run and retrieve a calming potion for Miss Weasley. She had run out of the tonic again.

"He's still alive! I can see him! He's planning something big!" Ginny gasped out the same words she always spoke when she woke screaming. She gripped the Medi-Witches' shoulders and made sure to catch the woman's eyes before saying, "the Dark Lord, Voldemort, is still alive. You have to believe me!"

The Medi-Witch smiled the same smile she always wore when the youngest Weasley woke with such horrible dreams. The Healer knew it was only the prolonged suffering of the Cruciatus Curse that afflicted the poor girl and had addled her mind so. That was why she was in the spell damage ward at St. Mungo's and had been in the hospital for all of the ten years since the last war had ended.

The potion finally arrived and when added to a dreamless sleep drought, Ginny Weasley was soon asleep and out of the Medi-Witches hair for the rest of the night.

III

Draco Malfoy, Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson, Theodore Nott, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, Millicent Bulstrode, Warrington, Montague, Marcus Flint, Tracey Davis, Daphne Greengrass, Malcolm Baddock, Graham Pritchard, Adrian Pucey, Bole, Derrick, and a few other people all crowded around the common area of the mansion they all lived in.

It had been ten long years since they had been sent away from Voldemort. He had told them to be patient and to wait. The Dark Lord had said that they would know when they would be needed.

Now, for the first time in ten years their Dark Marks were tingling and they knew that their Lord was back. All they needed was the signal and they would return to their Lords side and continue promoting his brilliant cause.

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A.N. Alright so I had most of this story finished and then lost it all in my hard drive failure. I felt like posting what I have so far so please tell me what you think! The title will probably be changed (I'm not sure I like this one) so if you have any suggestions feel free to tell me!


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